Professor encourages fuller understanding of current Korean conflict

January 12, 2011

J.R. Howard Hall

In response to mainstream media coverage of recent tensions between North and South Korea, Professor of Economics Marty Hart-Landsberg wrote a blog post encouraging composure and providing background about the disputed territory where two conflicts took place last year.

Hart-Landsberg also told the Los Angeles Times that negotiations between North and South Korea over the disputed maritime border could defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Director of the Political Economy Program at Lewis & Clark, Hart-Landsberg is an expert in international economics and the political economy of East Asia. He also serves as adjunct researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences at Gyeongsang National University, South Korea.

In a post from his blog, “Reports from the Economic Front,” Hart-Landsberg argues that media coverage of recent military friction—including the March 2010 sinking of a South Korean naval vessel and the November 2010 exchange of artillery fire—has been lopsided and inflammatory.

“Many unanswered questions remain about the Cheonan sinking and the Yeonpyeong attack. However, what does appear clear is that there are many complexities surrounding these events that are never made public here in the U.S., and that these omissions end up reinforcing a view of North Korean motivations and actions that is counterproductive to what should be our goal: achieving peace on the Korean peninsula.”